The rendering clearly shows that design director, Ian Callum's team has taken inspiration from the current XK coupe with most of the length taken out from the back edge of the door to the center of the rear wheel with much reduced overhangs front and rear. The grille is likely to take inspiration from the C-X75 hybrid supercar unveiled at the Paris Auto Show last year.

Jaguar C-X75 Concept

Jaguar is keeping its powder dry until next month, but expect a choice of V-6 gasoline powertrains, mounted in a front/mid-engined layout ranging from 275 bhp in naturally aspirated versions to 350 bhp in supercharged format; while later in its life a stripped out hardcore R version can be expected in 2015, two years after the convertible.

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With its all-aluminium construction this should give the lightweight two-seater sparkling performance to take on the Porsche Cayman and other rivals.

Transmission to the rear wheels will be via six-speed manual although ZF's superlative eight-speed auto is likely to be in the mix for markets like the USA.

Expect dazzling dynamics combined with poised ride as well, a senior Jaguar recently revealed a Cayman had been bought as one of the benchmark rivals

It's a case of third time lucky for a new Jaguar sports car following 1998's XK180 and the F-Type from 2000 which Porsche boss at the time, Wendelin Wiedeking, admitted to me would have caused "serious" problems for the Boxster if it had ever made production.

Build numbers and price have yet to be settled, but at prices starting around the equivalent of the $74,000 mark here in the UK, it will sit between the Cayman and 911. This will allow the larger XK to maybe grow in size to become more of a 2+2 and price.

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